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Touch Base
Cliffside Settlement - Sonic Canyons Approached via nearby lifts and some very careful treading along the narrow "roads" in the cliff face, these Cybertronian settlements are little more than squarish balcony-like entrances that bore further into the "crust". They're connected on the outside by what looks like some complex, shock-absorbing scaffolding, which proves necessary by the resonating sound of machinery thrashing the dwellings every so often. It seems canyon inhabitants prefer bronze and greenish paneling. <'Decepticon'> Blitzwing says, "So anyone crack open this prisoner yet?" The narrow walkways are bustling with mechs carrying what they've managed to salvage from the caravan, which isn't a whole lot. The neutrals that have reached their old home before this particular group are clearly happy to see their comrades, and there's a great deal of rejoicing going on in the balconies. It's less joyous for the friends of the perished, of course. The Autobots have been led through a network of tunnels, to a large circular room with a dimly glowing lamp in the center of the ceiling. It's a pretty high-tech interior for being little more than a hole bored into the cliff face, and it looks to be the settlement's medical facility. Chaindash can be found assisting the medics as they try to stabilize the injured. By the way, it's very loud. Extremely loud. The sound of colossal gears churning beneath Cybertron's surface fill the air, and being within the cliffside does little to dampen the pounding and grinding. As usual Scoop is all too willing to help out. His only regret was that he was on another assignment at the time and wasn't able to help with defending the caravan. So he's made up for it with helping with the cleanup and getting what they could salvage to the caves proper. As is he's chugging along through the tunnel, namesake shovel lifted up to carry some of the recovered supplies without dropping them. Just to be on the safe side Tracer is sitting on his rear section in gun mode, warily watching for any Decepticon interruptions that thankfully did not come. Meanwhile Holepunch is sitting in the cab, going over a datapad and frowning. Because there was a lot of stuff these neutrals need that they did not recover from the wreckage. When the call came from Chaindash, Blurr had sort of been expecting it, ever since he'd heard from Velum that Jigsaw had gone missing. And thus, with a bit of dread, he makes his way back to the Sonic Canyons to meet his contact. Of course, he prides himself in being quick though, so he doesn't waste any time. Upon arriving within the breem of the request, he immediately makes his way toward Chaindash. "You called me here?" Firestar, being the damage control expert that she is, has volunteered alongside Scoop to assist with last leg of migrating the survivors to their native home - though like Scoop, she was otherwise detained and unable to lend a servo in their initial movement from Istoral. As a result, Firestar has taken up residence in this tribe's medical facility, putting in double-time to make up for her abscence last solar cycle, criss-crossing paths with Chaindash and other physicians as she moves amongst the injured, providing relief where she can. There's a gaggle of femmes following Scoop around on the walkways. He's so dreamy. Especially his shovel! Seems these neutrals have a thing for mining, as quite a few of them are toting demolition breakers or drills on their shoulders. Chaindash turns around with a start. "Jeez that was fast!" he yells over the audial-rattling sound, "Oh right... ah..." He reaches over to a wall panel and enables some form of sound dampening. The room suddenly gets a lot quieter, and this seems to disturb the medics. "Blurr, I can't thank the Autobots enough. Firestar and Scoop have been a tremendous help as well. We'll get you your ore but... W-well they've got our overseer. We've got to get him back. Do you... know where they're keeping him?" Arriving with Blurr in his microscope mode is Perceptor. He's come to assist the medics with the mechs who have been injured--and perhaps go on a scientific tangent inspecting the salvaged debris if he gets the chance to. Once Blurr comes to a halt, he disembarks and protoforms. "..May I be of medical or technical assistance?" the scientist inquires. Orange Payloader rolls to a stop finally and lowers his shovel so the sadly meager materials can be unloaded by the neutrals. "I wish I could say this wasn't the last of it, but that would just be false promises." The mining equipment didn't escape the former engineer's notice though. "You look set to start gathering from the region though, at least." Once the goods are out he backs up just far enough to transform without bumping into anything and stand up into robot mode as the shovel folds down onto his back. This results in Tracer being affixed to his left arm, where the Targetmaster is content to stay. He's not really the conversational type, and honestly doesn't trust that the Decepticons won't show up to try and finish the job. Holepunch jumps out of Scoop's cab as he transforms and lands lightly on the ground, turning to hand his datapad to one of the workers. "I've made a checklist of everything that was recovered, and what was deemed lost and beyond repair. It will surely help you get yourselves organized in finding what you need to replace." The payloader more or less stands up on its end and folds the shovel back to become a heroic robot. "You're welcome, of course. As for your leader...Jigsaw, was it?" Blurr sighs a little. "I can't say I do, unfortunately. Last I heard, of their seekers, Polarity, took off with him." Good thing he doesn't have any intel, so the Decepticons won't be prying anything out of him. "There are several possibilities that come to mind, of course, but rest assured that we will look into rescuing him, and if there is a viable way to do it, -someone- will get on it, all right?" He smiles with artificial politeness and claps a hand on Chaindash's shoulders. "For now, we'll focus on getting the rest of you all settled in." "Thanks much little guy," says one of the femmes, taking the checklist. "We'll make do. Belongings aren't as important as lives," she vents a sigh and offers up a salute. "Is that how you salute? We don't deal with military-types a lot." Chaindash smiles weakly at Perceptor, "The fella' in the corner got a nice blasting from that damn shuttleformer's bombs, if you want to help out." He gazes at the ground as Blurr speaks, then looks up. "You will? Thank you so much! Let us know if we can help somehow... A lot of mechs here look up to Jigsaw, and I'm no leader. We really need him back. I don't know why those slaggers would even /want/ him..." Blurr nods. "Of course we will. After all, we failed to prevent the Decepticons from taking him. It's our responsbility to get him back. As to why they'd want him..." he pauses a moment and shakes his head, looking grave. "Chaindash, Despite what anyone else may tell you, the Decepticons are -extremely- violent and vicious beings. It's a shame we have to call them Cybertronians. An opportunity to inflict pain and suffering on someone who can't defend themselves is one they'd never pass up, regardless of whether they'd actually get anything -useful- out of him." Fortress Maximus flies in from the over the valley as a battleship and touches down by the settlement, drops off a moderate sized container before transforming back into a robot. He places both hands against the container and heaves it along into the settlement with him until he's over with the gathered Cybertronians, "I read the reports of this caravan's trek, and I extend to you all my sincere sympathies over the losses you all experienced." The large Headmaster commander sets the container down, "We don't have much to spare, but I was able to allocate some spare supplies for you all." Perceptor nods at Chaindash, following his gaze over to specified mech. "I'll do what I can," he says politely, heading over towards the injured neutral. "If there's anything else I can assist with," the scientist informs, "please do let me know." He arches a brow ridge at Blurr's pretentious politeness, but says nothing. "So true, so true! Making it to your homelands with your lives is the most valuable resource." The salute is a little sloppy, but Scoop returns it all the same. "Close enough. This isn't a time to worry about formalities anyways." A moment passes, and then he shifts just far enough to give Holepunch a nudge with his heel and the Nebulan briefly salutes as well. Then gets distracted by Maximus' arrival, quickly hurrying back in that direction to help with keeping unpacking whatever their commander brought organized. Or at least trying to. Holepunch's intentions were at least in the right place, even if some of his managertorial efforts were... rough. Scoop on the other hand turns his attention to one of the other femmes, admiring her equipment for a moment. No no, I mean the power tool she's holding over her shoulder. "Could I see one of those breakers?" Firestar continues to tend diligently to the the patients gathered in the room, noting Perceptor's arrival once the mech transforms. Firestar stands up from having knelt over a - thankfully - ambulatory individual and waves him over with a hand. Firestar beams at him with bright blue optics and rambles off a laundry list of tasks to accomplish in regards to the inflicted Cybertronians here that the scientist may assist in taking care of. More than enough to keep him busy for at least a few cycles, anyway. Chaindash nods grimly. "I just don't get why they'd want to attack us. We've done nothing to them! We're not even in this war! ...Maybe it's so they can turn us against the Autobots. Tch, who knows." When Fortress Maximus arrives, Chaindash looks up up up... "Whoa...I've never seen a mech so big. Uh, thank you! We'll take all the help we can get. I didn't expect the additional assistance, honestly. I mean, I had to beg Blurr! Heh heh!" His smile quickly fades when he realizes his words, and he cringes. The femmes are all over Scoop's shovel man. They poke at Tracer too. "Oh this old thing?" the worker femme tosses the big heavy demo breaker to Scoop. "Tears into the metal here like nothin' else! It'll throw ya' though, you gotta' keep a good grip." Blurr almost turns his optics upward in exasperation but restrains himself. These neutrals...what a bunch of malfunctioning diodes. "Like I said, they're very keen on taking -every- opportunity they possibly can to cause misery and suffering. One of their aerial patrols probably spotted us as we were nearing the surface." he lies. And -then- Chaindash mentions that he begged him. Ugh. He arches a brow ridge. "Begged? Well--that's certainly an odd way to put it, Chaindash. If there was any -begging- involved I wasn't aware of it--we made a deal." Perceptor glances briefly over at Firestar, but doesn't pay too much attention to her and her laundry list. He nods obediently in response to her, but he's not quite absorbing everything she's saying. Of course, the scientist is only partially aware of reality most times. Noticing a mech with more severe injuries, he quickly busies himself with repairing him. Scoop catchs the piece of heavy equipment with little trouble, holding it up to inspect it more thoroughly. He doesn't really mind the femmes clustering around him, though it shant distract him from matters at hand. "I haven't seen this make in vorns." Nevermind it was because most of that time was spent off-planet with Maximus' crew. "Good model though, really durable. Bet you'll get plenty more success out of these old workhorses." For a moment the thought of what one of the demo breakers would do to a Decepticon's armor crosses his processors, but he just smiles as he hands it back to its owner. No, these mechs just want to get on with living their lives. Lets not turn their gear into weapons unless they absolutely need to for defending themselves. Fortress Maximus gives Holepunch a quick smile, "Thank you, Holepunch, this is most he---" he pauses for a moment and even winces ever so slightly as he watches the rough organizational efforts being made to the supplies he brought in. Good thing most were just medical supplies, building materials, and tools amongst other things, "--lpful." He then turns his attention back to Chaindash as he's spoken to, "It's important to not forget that despite the war that ripped our civilization into pieces, we are ultimately still bretherns. The Decepticons attacks you for many reasons. To satisfy their own lust for brutality. However, also to force your people into submission and perhaps incorporate your people's skills and mechpower into their own formidable war machine." The Headmaster commander raises an optical groove at the mention of Chaindash begging Blurr for help and he gives the Intel officer a curious side glance before looking back to Chaindash, "The Autobots also seeks out potential allies here on Cybertron." Fortress Maximus admits in a direct manner, and he pauses for a moment as he levels a firm look at Chaindash to let his words sink in before continuing, "However we can also accept the fact that not everyone would be eager to throw their lot into a civil war, and we can also take solace in the fact that even if your people may not decide to ally with us---" He motions to the supplies he has brought, "---at least we may be able to cement the notion that you may unite with the Decepticons against us." Yep, ol' Fortress Maximus is doing his best to muster his diplomacy mojo tonight. "R-right... a deal." Chaindash unspaces a palm-sized chunk of ore and tosses it to Blurr. It's a glossy, dark metal with hints of iridescence. "We've got enough to fill your transport, but we can offer more if you bring back Jigsaw." He looks way back up to Fort Max and nods slowly. "I don't think anyone would side with those guys. They've done us too much harm. B-but I'm not the leader here, mechs, I can't really say whether or not we'd form an alliance. If you get Jigsaw out of this, however, you might be able to sway him. But... all we do here is dig. We're not trained for combat. We wouldn't be of much use anyhow." He summons a few larger mechs to come help with the unloading, and they all stare up in awe at the Headmaster commander. "Damn right they're durable. Do you mine? You look like you'd be good at it," says the femme with a wink. Someone whistles from a balcony far above, and the gaggle of femmes disperse, "Sorry, gotta' go!" Brainstorm flies onto the scene in his jet mode, swerving to and fro along the walls of the canyon as if daring one of those walls to interrupt his flight path. Over the edge, down to the canyon floor, then swooshing straight back up the wall to soar over the edge again... he's just enoying the air currents like a raven plays and loops through the wind. Arriving to his destination, the Autobot engineer/mad scientist transforms into his root mode and lands not far from Fort Max- who was pretty easy spot from a distance, after all. "Big guy! How ya doin'? I'm here to HELP! POINT ME IN A DIRECTION!" Then he looks over and spots Perceptor. "OH! Never mind! I FOUND ONE!" And he begins to head directly towards the scientist, giving the occasional wave and "Hi, what's up?" to anyone he happens to walk by as he does so. "I was an engineer back in the days before the wa--" But the femmes get called away before Scoop can get into a story. "--At least they're quick to respond to the end of a break." He shrugs a bit, and walks back towards the others. Just in time to see the lump of ore being tossed a bit. "... You know, I may be shooting in the dark here, but maybe that's what they were after? You guys know where to find raw minerals like that?" Perceptor is watching the piece of gear Scoop was tossing around a moment ago while performing repairs with a little bit too much interest. However, when it is taken away he refocuses on the task at hand. This time Perceptor doesn't try to avoid the Headmaster this time. He's just finished patching up the neutral he was repairing as Brainstorm walks over. Instead, he draws himself up to his full height and stares very indignantly at the engineer. optics blazing. Then he leans forward to deal him a swift uppercut! Combat: Perceptor sets his defense level to Aggressive. Combat: Perceptor strikes Brainstorm with his Punch attack! Fortress Maximus twists to his left to look at the newly arrived Brainstorm, "Brainstorm? I think we have injured here, see if you---" It looks like Brainstorm already decided upon what to do already before the big guy can even finish speaking. Meh, hey whatever works. Maximus turns his attention back to Chaindash and Blurr. He notices the chunk of ore being tossed around, mentally notes it for a moment before responding to Chaindash's comments, "We'll see what we can do for your leader. In the mean time though, can you tell me what else your settlement here might need?" Blurr catches the piece of ore that Chaindash tosses his way and examines it briefly, then nods with mild satisfaction. "Anything you can spare would help the war effort." he says, even though he's not sure if that's actually the case. "But who knows? Digging might come in handy one day." Hmm, Scoop's got a good point there. He nods at the mention that the Decepticons may have been after the ore. "He's right, they could have been after the ore as well. But don't worry Chaindash, we -will- get to the bottom of this." And then Perceptor punches Brainstorm, seemingly out of the void. "Whoa...Perceptor? What's the matter, here? Something wrong?" he asks, though he is fuming internally. The slag was this all about?! "Oh sure," Chaindash says to Scoop and gestures out toward's the canyon. "Right off of Piezo's Shelf, the chasms go waaaaay down. This stuff is pretty hardy, resistant to all types of corrosion, even acid! The Cybertronians from Yuss used to buy it from us... y'know, for their houses, 'cause they live where all the acid storms are. I wonder if they're still around..." Fort Max draws his attention, "Oh, uh! Jeez um... If you have any mining equipment or drills. This place is startin' to get back in business but the mechs that have been here for a bit tell me they've had to really pool some shanix for the equipment they have. No biggie though, y'know, if you can't get us anything. I'm just glad you're helpin'... Holy slag! Your medic's out of control!" Brainstorm walks up and... wow, hmm, Percy looks kinda mad.... "Uh, Perceptor, hey, what's u-" WHAMMO! The Headmaster staggers back a bit, surprised, and just stands there a moment, blinking at the scientist. He rubs his jaw and states in a very reasonable voice, "Y'know, most people greet others with a "hello" and "how do you do?".... not a knuckle sandwich." As Blurr and Chaindash chime in, he looks towards them, an expression of pure innocence on his face. "WELL OBVIOUSLY he's just breaking from the strain of dealing with the HORRORS of the battlefield... here, lemme help him- IT'S OK, really, I got this!!!!" Then he leans in towards Perceptor and whispers. "Is this about that little thing I uh, borrowed, from your lab recently?" A snort comes from Scoop's left arm where Tracer has been in gun mode the entire time. "Considering that they have the likes of Grax working with them, the fact that it's profitable to sell could be a motivator as well." "Tracer's right. There's a lot of reasons they could be getting after you guys besides petty violence. But that's no reason to deflate your hopes. You're miners, you just gotta get out there and keep mining!" He smacks his fist into the opposite palm. "And rest assured that regardless if you join us or not we'll continue to protect you from those overblown jerks as best as we can!" Pause. ".. well okay, last time isn't the best of examples, but we don't give up just because of one mishap, either!" Nice save. He doesn't even have to look behind him, he just puts one palm to his face at Brainstorm's comment. He can guess what one scientist did to tick off the other easily. Fortress Maximus listens to the miner's request and nods thoughtfully, "I might be able to actually start manufacturing some of those mining equipments for your people shortly." Blurr and Chaindash's comments prompts Fortress Maximus to also take a look behind himself, towards the direction where Brainstorm and Perceptor is. Uh oh, he isn't happy at what he's seeing and he asks in a short and concise manner, "Explain yourselves." He narrows his optics skeptically as he listens to Brainstorm's explanation, "I don't know what transpired between you two, but I need you two to act professionally when you're representing us out in the field." Blurr glares at Perceptor, perhaps looking just as furious as the scientist did just now. He opens his mouth, about to say something, but then shuts it as Fortress Maximus steps in. "...what he said." Perceptor simply turns around, regaining his composure and looking for all world as if he hadn't just punched the Headmaster. He dutifully ignores Brainstorm and gently helps up neutral he just repaired. "Are there any other mechs needing medical assistance?" he asks, glancing around mildly. In response to Fortress Maximus, he simply replies. "No disrespect intended sire," he says calmly, "but I don't believe there's any need to. Everything is quite alright, as you can see, I am in perfect control of myself. If there is anything else that needs to be done, please inform me, and my apologies, if I have disrupted the peace." He then carries on in a tranquil fashion, not a trace of anger left in his expression. Chaindash grins at Scoop - now /here's/ an upstanding Autobot! Fort Max earns a smile as well. "Mm, the battlefield can do crazy things to your head," he asides to an onlooking medic, motioning towards Brainstorm and Perceptor. He lifts his voice, "I'm being summoned, but thank you for touching base with us. All of your help will not be forgotten."